


Epilogue

by TheArtOfBlossoming



Series: Vincent, Redefined [11]
Category: Fallout 4
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-06
Updated: 2020-08-06
Packaged: 2021-03-05 21:41:51
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,378
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25752274
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheArtOfBlossoming/pseuds/TheArtOfBlossoming
Summary: All stories end, though you don't always hear about it. These characters deserve a few words, though, even though they were hard to write.
Series: Vincent, Redefined [11]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/566194
Comments: 1
Kudos: 8





	Epilogue

"I'm dying, Mac."

Robert Joseph MacCready froze, as if he'd just stepped on a cryomine. His ears had taken the words in perfectly but he was struggling to comprehend. All that escaped his lips was a malformed "Whu..?"

"Body can't cope anymore. It's way past the best before date anyhow." Vin looked at Mac with hollow eyes. MacCready looked back without the filter of denial that he'd held up for the past month.

At first, he'd noticed less heavy junk coming back with them. Once, every typewriter, extinguisher, bucket and desk fan had been strapped to his pack somehow. Now, none of that stuff got picked up. Then it was the rest stops. They used to go miles without a break before the Institute was an Outstitute. Bad joke. Vin always teased him when he cracked a stinker. Lately, even a rotten joke got a short but genuine laugh.

He could no longer deny the dark circles beneath Vincent's eyes, nor the hollowness of his cheeks. Sure, Mac was nearing forty now and Vin was a good…twenty two decades older, not really fifty two as he appeared to be. He wasn't supposed to be alive right now. He might be gone any moment. These thoughts built up pressure in MacCready's paralyzed form until they broke upon the shore of disbelief and cut through his shock. He lurched toward his love and dropped to his knees, tears suddenly streaming, still unable to speak but shaking his head, brows pressed together like pleading hands.

Vincent laid a hand upon his cheek. "Had to happen sooner or later, love," he said softly.

Mac's sobs burst from his chest, carrying the words 'no, no, fuck no' to Vin's one good ear as he lay his head on Vincent's lap. Long minutes passed in silence, as MacCready's sobs ran out of ammunition. Exhausted, he pulled himself to lay alongside Vin on the bed. He felt raw, empty, save for the few words that battled their way forth. "You sure?"

"Yes. I've had Curie, Cade and Dr. Sun check me over. Doc Forsythe from '81 is due tomorrow but I doubt he'll say different."

"But…but why? Why now? Is…is it what Shaun, I mean, "Father" had?"

Vin stopped rubbing Mac's back and looked him in the eye. "Damn. Never thought of that. Been seeing Valentine behind my back?" Vin joked.

"Never seen anyone behind your back, Vin."

"I know, I know. You know what I meant, Bun."

Mac sighed. A tiny ray of hope glinted in his sights. "If I can do anything, you just…you just let me know. 'Kay?"

Vin offered a tired nod in reply.

"Hey, you rest. I'm gonna get some cram cooked up with a few tatoes an' a splash of Nuka. Does Quantum work like regular cola?"

"Try it."

Mac went off to the kitchen and took three times as long as usual because of checking in on the snoring hero.

* * *

The following day, Dr. J. Forsythe was joined by the now Proctor Curie. Vincent remembered to mention his son's terminal illness, though he was often forgetting things nowadays. Doc Forsythe wanted proof but 'Father's medical notes had been vaporised. However, Curie's face lit up, the way it always did when she was on the verge of a new discovery. "It is true, is it not, zat you both were cryogenically suspended." This was not in question. "I 'ave a theory. Zis technology…Proctor Quinlan, the dear, showed me some rare Vault-Tec research papers 'aving to do with cryogenics. For years, zey could freeze organic material quickly and efficiently, enough for ze organisms to live for a few seconds after thawing. However, ze main problem was cell damage."

Mac, struggling to wrap his brain around this science stuff, suddenly remembered an issue of Manta Man where the hero had been unfrozen with a special gas. Vin knew the one and sent Mac to fetch it from their library. He handed the tattered issue over. It was missing the cover and thus also the very last few frames but the story was there.

Curie looked decidedly unimpressed, until Vin told her how it was known before the Great War that sometimes, the government had deliberately allowed - even encouraged - certain information to be couched in the form of fiction. 'Sneaky propaganda', some called it. Others felt honoured, that they were being let in on big secrets but it was only ever partial truths, designed to catch out the Reds."

Forsythe just shook his head. "Childrens stories. Useless. Can we get back to the matter in ha.."

Curie interrupted. "Gaseous compounds…cryogenic half-life…of course! Monsieur Vincent, you and your son were frozen for different lengths of time, non?"

"Well, yeah, Curie. I was in sixty years longer."

"Also you are a little younger falling ill, oui?"

"I…guess…Shaun was nearer sixty when he became ill, I think."

"Je comprende. Paladin Major MacCready, I shall need you to accompany two scribes to Vault 111 to retrieve samples. There should be residue at least with which I can synthesise a…I hesitate to say 'cure' but I suppose zat word will suffice."

"No, I need to stay here, with my h.."

"Paladin-Major. Consider Proctor Curie's request an order," said Vincent in a convincingly commanding voice. In a wobbly near whisper, he added, "You did say anything you could do to help, love. This is it."

Mac flexed his jaw, biting back a reply which would have just withered into an excuse not to go anyway and nodded.

Vincent slept, more exhausted than he'd let on. 'Bone weary' didn't do the belated cryogenic hangover justice. Whatever chemical had kept his frozen cells alive, they were starved of the substance when the process had been interrupted and though what was already in his system had lasted for over fifteen years, he'd been running on fumes for the last six months.

MacCready and the 'science squad' returned quickly but it was three long, emotionally trying days for him as Curie worked tirelessly in her lab. Eventually, she emerged with a crate of drip bags. Vin was hooked up and told that it would take twenty-four hours for the synthesised chemical repair solution to take effect.  
Mac stayed by his side, reading a fairly well preserved copy of This Island Earth. Daisy always saved the best books for her 'two favourite boys'.

* * *

An orange sunrise lit the clinic room with a warm glow. A slice of light fell across Vin's face, waking him. He shifted and opened his eyes to see MacCready, curled up mostly on the foot of the bed, having abandoned the hard plastic chair. Vin smiled and wriggled his feet, jiggling that old hat right off his head and waking him up.

"Hey! Cut-it-out" he said grumpily. He woke up a little more then, enough for it all to come rushing back. MacCready leapt up to look at Vin properly. "Vin? How are you feeling? Did it work?"

Vincent grinned and chuckled. He felt solid, again, lighter and more rested than he had in months. Curie was soon by his bedside, checking vitals, muttering exclamations in French and smiling.

"Hey, Mac. Think I'll postpone that whole dying thing," Vin quipped.

"How long for?" Mac asked.

"For as long as I can possibly be with you, dear heart."

* * *  
 **October 2337**

The line tugged. Vincent woke up from his unintended nap to reel the fish in with tremoring hands. The boys, now men, were away, Shaun was a Proctor working on the Prydwen, Duncan worked over at Spectacle Island training Minutemen.

It wasn't exactly the kind of military school that Vin attended in his faraway youth but close. Better, in fact. The Minutemen and Brotherhood worked together well, newcomers could choose to jump straight into full-time as an Initiate or volunteer as a Private. Local knowledge was swapped for martial expertise, a win/win situation.

Vincent heard uneven footsteps and turned to see the top of that faded old, green cap before he saw the once-brown grey hair beneath it.

"There you are, almost thought…"

"You know I'd never forget about you," Vin interrupted. "Here, I caught exactly one fish. Not even sure it's edible."

"Heh. You know, this retirement thing is weird. What say we go and have ourselves an adventure?"

"With your foot and my back, we'd be lucky to make it to Nuka World, never mind Appalachia."

"Or beyond? Wonder what's out there, north or south? We'll take the power armour. Keep on going 'til we run out of juice."

"You sure, Mac?"

"Yes. I am. There's nothing left for us to do here except rot in the sun, like that fish you should put in a cooler. The boys are men now, the grandkids are all grown up. I…I don't want Shaun or Duncan to see you get.."

"No, I know. You're right. But if… if you end up alone, you head back home, y'hear?"

"Sure thing, Boss."

"Don't give me that 'boss' crap. C'mere you handsome old rascal and help me up. We should get packing. The boys'll be back in three days. They can see us off at the station."

"D'you think someone'll write a comic about us one day?"

"Heh, you wish, GrogMac, you wish."

* * *

This? This was my Dad's. It came from the Vault he was preserved in. You want to hear a story, then? Alright. But this story isn't about him. Instead, I'll let this old Pip-Boy lead the way. You see, I found a list of names on it. People he'd called 'companion' at one time or another, though he didn't always like them. Dad spent hours sitting round the fire, telling their stories so I know how each and every one goes. I knew some of them personally, too. Those were like family. I know you know those stories pretty well too but you don't know how they ended. Get comfortable and I'll tell you how each and every one of them died.

**Cait**

She adored her General and Ronnie Shaw became like a mother to her, well, that and the toughest drill sergeant you ever had. Cait and a troop of Minutemen were following a band of Raiders who had probably come over from Nuka-World at some point. She chased them right down to the edge of the Glowing Sea, took 'em all out without losing a man but the battle woke up a family of Deathclaws hiding just under the broken overpass.

The juveniles they dealt with quickly but according to Hank, who was one of the troop, a trio of Radscorpions joined in. Well, the Deathclaw turned its attention to one of the 'scorps but the other two had cut off the escape route. By the time they'd dealt with those, they had run out of ammunition for the weapons they had left ; one of the guns had jammed and the other got dropped down a crevice. The Deathclaw matriarch was enraged. She grabbed Cait by the waist. Cait, well she just ordered her men to 'fucking run!' and beat that thing's eyesocket in with her power fist. As it flailed in its death throes, still holding tight to his Sergeant, Hank told me he heard Cait's bones break and saw her head smash on a rock. 

We always knew she'd go down fighting.

**Codsworth**

I miss his jokes. There's nothing much to tell here. He was happily whistling one day, trimming the mutfruit in Sanctuary when there was a bang, his thruster sputtered and went out and he just dropped to the ground. Dad and Ingram spent a week trying to fix him, then lugged him over to see if Isabel could sort him out. She managed to get some basic functions online but he just wasn't Codsworth anymore, so it was decided to drop him into the forge at Saugus. Dad kept his bowler hat and his flamethrower nozzle because he said he always thought it looked like a cigar. My Pop loved cigars…

**Curie**

Now there's a loss. She left quite a legacy, though and the Curie Centre at Boston Airport has become what the Institute really should have been, except on a much smaller scale. She came to Pop one day and informed him that she had detected a fault developing in her cardio-vascular system. It seems that us synths aren't immune to mortality after all. 

Well, she calmly put all her affairs in order, gave everyone she called family a warm embrace, went to bed, closed her eyes and just…just stopped. Sorry. Damn. Wish I could do tears. Yeah. She was like an aunt to me. 

**Danse**

If Curie was my aunt then ex-paladin Saul J. Danse was certainly my uncle. I spent a lot of time with him, growing up (so to speak). When he was rejected by Maxson, he changed his name to 'Diesel Dan'. No, he didn't choose it, bet you can guess who did. Anyway, Rhys left the Brotherhood and joined the Minutemen to be with him. Their wedding was awesome. Two guys in flame-painted power armour, kissing beneath a flaming heart wreath? Epic. 

Well, those two were key in helping Sanctuary become what it is today but that's another story. When Rhys died a happy old man, Dan just told us he was done and goodbye. He walked up north past the Vault and never came back…so he could be alive out there, somewhere but I don't feel that's true. He's gone, somehow. We'll never really know.

**Deacon**

Dad didn't trust him. He wanted to like him but said the guy was a compulsive liar though he had a good heart. You know what went down when the Brotherhood and Railroad both forced my dad into choosing sides. It tore him up but he said he made it quick, for all of them.

**Dogmeat**

Oh shoot I miss that mutt. This little puppy princess here is his great..great granddaughter though. Yeah, he found love with the Junkyard gal and their bloodline has proved a good one. Loyal and strong. Old Dogmeat, well when his back legs started giving out he stayed here. Passed away peacefully in front of the fire one night with a full belly and a rub between the ears. He's buried in the yard out back.

**Hancock**

How do *you* think he went out? Yep, in bed with a couple of twins, high as a kite, laughing his ass off. What he left behind, though…he was one of the key members of the Commonwealth Council that drew up the new charter which includes Freedom, Tolerance, Interdependence Public Responsibility and the Right to Party. He took over as Governor when Preston resigned. A lot of people owe him their gratitude. And he still flirted with Dad whenever he could, heh.

**Nick Valentine**

Detective Nick Valentine. He really was one of a kind. You can find a VDA in every large settlement these days since he took on apprentices after the defeat of the Institute. Danny Sullivan's kid Dirk is still one of the best. 

Old Ellie came into the office one day to find him sitting at his desk, a little smile on his face, an untouched cigarette burned to a snake of ashes and a drop of whiskey in his glass but those amber eyes had lost their light. He's buried by the Wall. We later buried Ellie next to him.

**Old Longfellow**

Can you believe he lived 'til he was one hundred and eleven years old? Well, for the last couple of decades he was pretty much part of the furniture at the Last Plank. They took good care of him. He married Cassie Dalton but she only lived for just over a year after that. Still, they were happy. Bickered alot but happily. He died with a whiskey in his hand and a song on his lips.

**Piper**

Feisty, right to the end. The Great War wiped out alot of things but not those medical demons that have haunted mankind since the beginning. She got sick, real sick. There was nothing anyone could do for her, though we tried. 

Piper set up a press at every large settlement, recruited new writers. Its amazing what people can do when they're not busy fighting just to survive. She ran writing classes at both schools, taught Survival Journalism and still managed to raise her little sister Nat to be one of the most impressive, inspiring women I've ever met. I'm proud to call her my sister-in-law.

As for Piper, she loved him right 'til the end, I'm not talking about Danny, no, you know who, though nothing ever came of it except that last kiss goodnight. She died too soon.

Fuck cancer.

**Porter Gage**

He used our 'Vin-Pop' to clear Nuka-World, tried to get the Sentinel-General to turn raider. You know how that ended. Apparently his last words were "No…not like this!" Betrayal is a bitter poison. Some just have it coming. Even when they are technically your grandfather.

**Preston**

He retired to Abernathy with his wife Lu. You know what Preston did for the Commonwealth, everyone does. He was loved, surrounded by his children, grandchildren and great grand-daughter Nora-Lu. He was covered in scars, missing an ear and silver-grey haired when he finally passed but I'll always remember the man as he was when I met him and that first warm smile he gave me. I miss his optimism.

**Strong**

He went to live with Erikson in Far Harbor and hoped to form a Shake-spear-troop. He was killed by friendly fire when he returned to the Commonwealth to visit Rex. Dad only tolerated him, really. I met him once. I kinda liked the big green doofus.

**X6-88**  
On the beach at Nordhagen after my dad chased him down. Not much to say about that. Just another dead genetically engineered killing machine.

I missed one? No, I… I'm not sure if I can talk about that. He was my other dad, after all. Ask Duncan, he'll tell you. Speak up, though, my elderly little bro is a bit deaf these days. Sorry folks, that's all you're getting out of Proctor Shaun Hudson-MacCready today. I need a quiet whiskey.

_In the years that followed, the Commonwealth flourished. Of the original thirty two settlements reclaimed by the Minutemen, all but Covenant (which remains a ghost town to this day) and Graygarden (still exclusively populated by robots) have become growing townships, with Sanctuary Hills, County Crossing and Sunshine Tidings being the largest. Hancock's Alley, though small, has become a popular place to visit and Brigadier-General Hancock's Watchmen can be found in most towns._

__

__

Diamond City now boasts a second wall, Orange Boundary, providing more housing, a Brotherhood training facility and a community garden, as the Raiders and Supermutants have long been pushed back. Ghouls are once again allowed in Diamond City, occupying properties vacated by criminal persons. There is no longer a mayor. Instead the Commonwealth settlements, with Diamond City as the capital, have been guided by such great leaders as Governor Generals Garvey and Hancock with the support of the Minutemen /Brotherhood Alliance.

Shaun MacCready Hudson became a Proctor, studying under Proctors Ingram and Quinlan and Scribe Neriah, specialising in upcycling technologies. Scribe-Mechanic Nakano, with the support of the Sentinel-General and his Companion Council, became an advocate for Gen 3 Synths and did much to increase the Brotherhood's acceptance and inclusion (under strict guidelines) of what became known as the Synth Refugees. He married Kasumi Nakano and they adopted three children.

Father and son Robert Joseph and Duncan Lucas MacCready opened the first Caps Savings and Loan when Star-Paladin Major MacCready was forced to retire from active duty due to injury. In addition to this work, he trained the very best Minutemen and Brotherhood snipers. Duncan became a part-time Neighbourhood Watchman before becoming a lead Training Sergeant on Spectacle Island. He married Nat Wright, who, inspired by Duncan's Dads, became Paladin-General of the Minutemen of Steel.

_Vincent Hudson and R.J. MacCready both lived to ripe old ages and were found together not far north of Vault 111, on a hillside, facing the sunset. They are buried together in Sanctuary Hills._


End file.
